“It hurts just to think about it.” She caught sight of Sophie standing a few feet away, trying not to look embarrassed and guilty in her long nightgown and the kerchief on her head. “Do you want me to braid your hair?” she asked the thirteen-year-old.

Sophie shook her head and looked away. “It’s almost our turn, Lisa.”

After Lisa left to take her stroll down the catwalk, Delaney rolled Neva Miller’s hair in an inverted pony tail, then gave her four daughters upside-down braids. Neva talked nonstop about her church, her husband Pastor Tim, and the Lord. Her mouth took on that born again, Jesus-loves-me-more-than-you smile, tempting Delaney to ask Neva if she remembered blowing the football team during halftime.

“You should come to our church tomorrow,” Neva said as she herded her girls toward the stage. “We meet from nine till noon.”

Delaney would rather burn in hell for eternity. She packed up her remaining supplies and went in search of her mother. She wouldn’t see Gwen until after the new year, and she wanted to say goodbye and wish her a nice trip. For years she’d spent the holidays with friends who took pity on her and invited her over for Christmas dinner. This year she’d be completely alone, and she realized as she hugged her mother and promised to look after Duke and Dolores that she really did want to spend Christmas at home like she used to. Especially now that Max was in the picture. The lawyer seemed to be able to distract her mother from criticizing everything in Delaney’s life.

Snow fell on her head as she loaded everything into Henry’s Cadillac. She didn’t have her gloves and her hands froze as she scraped windows. She was exhausted and her shoulders ached, and she hooked the corner behind her salon a little too fast. The Caddie slid sideways into the parking lot and finally stopped with the rear fender blocking the door to Allegrezza Construction. Delaney figured the brothers wouldn’t be working the next day, and she was too tired to care anyway. She changed into a nightshirt and crawled into bed. It seemed to her as if she hadn’t slept long before someone pounded on her door. She squinted at the clock on her bedside table as the pounding continued. It was nine-thirty Sunday morning, and she didn’t have to actually see Nick to know who stood on her porch beating down the door. She grabbed her red silk robe but didn’t bother to wash her face or brush her hair. She figured he deserved to be scared for waking her up so early on her day off.

“What in the hell is wrong with you?” were the first words out of his mouth as he stormed into her apartment looking like the wrath of God.

“Me? I’m not the one pounding down your door like a lunatic.”

He folded his arms across his chest and tilted his head to the side. “Do you plan to slide your way through town all winter, or just until you kill yourself?”

“Don’t tell me you’re worried.” She tied the silk belt securely around her waist, then walked past him toward the kitchen. “That might mean you actually care about me.”

He wrapped his hand around her upper arm and stopped her. “There are certain parts of your body I care about.”

She looked into his face, at his lips compressed into a straight line, the slash of his brow, and the desire raging in his eyes. He was angrier than she’d ever seen him, but he couldn’t hide wanting her. “If you want me, you know my terms. No other women.”

“Yeah, and we both know it would take me about two minutes to get you to change your mind.”

She’d learned months ago that if she argued he’d take it as a challenge just to prove her wrong. She wanted to believe she could resist temptation, but deep down she feared he’d have a minute and thirty seconds to spare. She twisted from his grasp and walked into the kitchen.

“Give me the keys to Henry’s car,” he called after her.

“Why?” She pulled the reservoir from her coffee maker and filled it with water. “What are you going to do, steal it?”

The slam of the front door answered her. She set the reservoir on the counter and walked into the living room. Her purse was dumped out on the coffee table and she had a feeling her keys were missing. She ran out onto her porch, and her feet sunk in snow at the edge of the first step. “Hey,” she called down to the top of his head, “what do you think you’re doing? Give me my keys back, you jerk!”

His laughter drifted up to her. “Come on down here and take ‘em.”

There were several good reasons she could think of to walk barefoot in the snow. A burning building, rat infestation, a slice of chocolate cheese cake, but Henry’s Cadillac wasn’t one of them.

Nick jumped into the silver car and fired it up. He scraped a portion of the windshield, and then he was gone. By the time he got back an hour later, Delaney was fully dressed and waiting for him at her front door.

“You’re lucky I didn’t call the sheriff,” she told him as he walked up the stairs toward her.

He took her hand and dropped the keys in her palm. His eyes were on the same level as hers, and his mouth inches from her lips. “Slow down.”

Slow down? Her heart raced and her breath caught in her throat as she waited for him to kiss her. He was so close, if she leaned forward just a little…

“Slow down before you kill yourself,” he said, then turned and headed back down the stairs.

Disappointment slowed her racing heart to a distressing thud. Over the side of the rail, she watched him walk into his office, then she moved to the Cadillac parked below. She peered through the windows at the cans of hair spray and gel she’d thrown in the back the night before. No dents. No dings. The car looked the same as it always had- except it now had four studded snow tires, so new they shone.


Monday morning started slowly enough that Delaney could hang Christmas lights on the little tree she’d bought for the reception area. It was only three feet tall, but it filled the salon with the scent of pine. By noon business had picked up and remained steady until she closed at five thirty. The judging for the ice sculptures would begin in Larkspur Park at six, and she hurried and changed into jeans, her beige cotton sweater with the American flag on the front, and her Doc Marten’s. She wasn’t so much interested in the ice sculptures as she was in finding a certain Basque man who’d changed the tires on Henry’s car yesterday.

By the time she arrived at Larkspur, the parking lot was nearly filled and the judging was under way. The sun had set and the park lights shone on the wonderland of towering crystal shapes. Delaney walked past a ten-foot Beauty and the Beast, a burly mountain man with his pack mule, and Puff the Magic Dragon. Exquisite detail had been given to each sculpture, bringing them to life in the black night and bright lights. She moved through the crowd past Dorothy and Toto, a huge duck, and a cow the size of a mini-van. The crisp air chilled her ears, and she shoved her bare hands into the pockets of her wool coat. She found the Allegrezza Construction entry at the far west end, surrounded by people and judges. Nick and Louie had sculpted a gingerbread house complete with ice gumdrops and candy canes. The house was big enough to walk through, but was roped off until after the judges made their decision. Delaney looked around for Nick and saw him standing to one side with his brother. He wore a black North Face parka with a white lining, jeans, and work boots. Gail Oliver stood next to him, her arm threaded through his. A hot lump of jealousy churned in Delaney’s stomach, and she might have lost her nerve and walked past if he hadn’t glanced up, locking his gaze on her.

She forced herself to move toward him but spoke to Louie because it was easier. “Is Lisa around here somewhere?”

“She and Sophie went to the bathroom,” Louie answered, his brown eyes moving from Delaney to Nick, then back again. “Stick around though, she’ll be right back.”

“Actually I wanted to talk to Nick.” She turned and looked up at the man responsible for the chaotic feelings colliding in her heart. She stared into his face, and she knew she’d somehow fallen madly in love with the boy who used to fascinate and torment her at the same time. They were both adults now, but nothing had changed. He’d just found new and better ways of torturing her. “If you have a minute, I need to talk to you.”

Without a word he disengaged himself from Gail and moved toward her. “What’s up, wild thing?”

She glanced at the people around them, then looked into his face. His cheeks were red and she could see his breath against the darkness. “I wanted to thank you for the snow tires. I watched for you today, but you didn’t go to your office. So I thought I might find you here.” She rocked back on her heel and looked down at the toes of her boots. “Why did you do it?”

“What?”

“Put snow tires on Henry’s car. No man has ever given me tires.” Nervous laughter escaped her lips. “It was a really nice thing to do.”

“I’m a really nice guy.”

One corner of her mouth lifted. “No, you’re not.” She shook her head and lifted her gaze to his. “You’re rude and overbearing most of the time.”

His smile showed his white teeth and creased the corners of his eyes. “What am I when I’m not rude and overbearing?”

She made a fist and blew her breath into her cold hand. “Conceited.”

“And?” He reached out and sandwiched her fingers between his warm palms.

Out of the corner of her eye she caught a glimpse of Gail moving toward them. “And I can see that I’ve come at a bad time.” She pulled her hand free and shoved it into her pocket. “I’ll talk to you some other time when you’re not busy.”

“I’m not busy right now,” he said just as Gail came to stand next to him.

“Hi, Delaney.”

“Gail.”

“I couldn’t make it to the fashion show Saturday night.” Gail glanced up at Nick and smiled. “I had something else going on, but I heard you did a real good job with the hair this year.”